Journalism and Media Production

Entry requirements

Sorry, no information to show

About this course

Source: UCAS

Course option

3.0years

Full-time | 2020

Subjects

Journalism

Media production

Working in our state-of-the-art studios, you’ll be taught by industry professionals, learning the essential journalistic skills sought by the world’s biggest media organisations, with the technical skills to match.

You’ll work to live briefs through newsroom simulations and by the time you graduate, you’ll have had first-hand experience of working in professional arenas – helping you to get a foot in the door of a very competitive profession.

Whether you seek a career in TV, radio, print or online, you’ll have the dexterity for all areas of the industry and you’ll be able to tell compelling stories to multi-platform audiences.

Graduates on UCA’s journalism courses have gone on to work in some of the biggest names in media and journalism, such as BBC Five Live, Channel 4, The Times, Reuters, and the Press Association.

Modules

In Year 1, you’ll be introduced to research techniques and how to create a factual story using sound and moving images that emotionally and visually engage the audience. You’ll also find out how to record and edit a radio package suitable for broadcast or podcasting and photography to accompany it. You will research, write and make an individual short moving image project of your choosing that tells a compelling story as a work of fiction or a factual piece. You’ll also learn to develop your own online presence, this platform becoming the home of your content that you produce and the blogs that you write. You will be introduced to the history and development of the media in order to develop your critical and analytical skills.
In Year 2, you’ll begin to learn about content production producing packages for dissemination across multiple platforms in a ‘live’ environment, planning and producing news bulletins or programmes in a realistic newsroom environment. You will also be made aware of the importance of media law and regulations and how this knowledge will help you to secure employment within journalism. This will include a five-day work placement to begin putting what you’ve learned into practice.
In Year 3, you will use the theoretical work you’ve completed in years one and two to undertake a major piece of research and writing with your dissertation. Alongside this you will continue to develop and hone your live broadcasting skills at a higher level within the newsroom environment. You’ll undertake your final major project, and complete ten days’ work experience in the industry.

The Uni

What students say

We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

84%

high

Journalism

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

Media studies

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

Source: HESA

93%

UK students

7%

International students

50%

Male students

50%

Female students

78%

2:1 or above

25%

Drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

Psychology

C

Media Studies

D

English Literature

D

After graduation

Source: DHLE and HECSU

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Journalism

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£18,000

med

Average annual salary

96%

med

Employed or in further education

100%

med

Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

22%

Media professionals

15%

Artistic, literary and media occupations

13%

Sales assistants and retail cashiers

Journalism roles are very sought after, and competition fierce, and with the Internet disrupting business models, this is likely to continue. It's not impossible to get into roles with a first degree — quite a few do - but they can often be insecure or on a freelance basis, and a lot of jobs in journalism go to postgraduates. Unpaid work is not the norm for new journalists, but it’s rather more common than for other roles, as personal contacts and work experience are important ways for would-be journalists to get their target jobs. The skills you can gain from a journalism degree can be useful in a range of industries, and so grads from these courses can be found in a wide range of jobs - first degree graduates often get jobs in marketing and PR where their skills at drafting copy to deadlines are appreciated. London tends to dominate the jobs market for journalism graduates - a quarter of journalism graduates went to work there - but 2015 graduates found opportunities elsewhere, particularly in larger cities with good local media.

Media studies

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£18,000

med

Average annual salary

100%

high

Employed or in further education

100%

high

Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

29%

Artistic, literary and media occupations

25%

Sales assistants and retail cashiers

7%

Media professionals

The UK has a world-class media industry in film, print and broadcast media, worth billions to the economy, and employing thousands of new graduates every year, so it's hardly surprising that ambitious and talented graduates want to work in it. But be realistic — this is a highly-sought after industry and jobs are amongst the most competitive around. If you want to be a star in front of the camera or in print, you might want to look at other options. Media studies graduates are much the most likely graduates to get into the media industry (in 2015, one in five grads entering the film industry, and one in four getting jobs in TV or film production had a media studies degree) and they’re more likely to be in crucial roles directing, producing, or operating sound or video equipment, or in media research or marketing roles. Self-employment and freelancing is more common than for most degrees, so that may be something to prepare for.

What about your long term prospects?

Source: LEO

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Journalism

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£15k

£15k

First year

£23k

£23k

Third year

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Media production

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£15k

£15k

First year

£23k

£23k

Third year

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

We calculate a mean rating of all responses to indicate whether this is high, medium or low compared to the same subject area at other universities.

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?